Masked by Moonlight

Paranormal and Passionate

Max is tall, dark, and handsome with a wolfish grin - literally. He also just so happens to serve as the muscle for mob boss, Jimmy Legere. Charlotte is your typical "good" cop out to discover her father's killer while ridding the streets of evil one creep at a time. Under any other circumstance, we probably wouldn't see these two having much to do with one another unless one was trying to kill the other. In Nancy Gideon's MASKED BY MOONLIGHT, however, we get to see them in an action packed story full of mystery and passion.

Charlotte and Max are a fun couple to read about. Charlotte is fairly relatable to your average female reader and I found following her to be pretty entertaining. Max is super attractive and definitely a guy we wouldn't mind getting to stare at over coffee. Put the two together and it's like Ms. Gideon created an explosion of romance on the pages. The chemistry between these two is definitely one of the highpoints to me, although I will say that at times it almost felt forced. The relationship between Max and Charlotte was thrown impossible curve balls and yet still they manage to overcome them. I'll be excited to see where Ms. Gideon takes these characters in the second book in the Moonlight Trilogy, Chased by Moonlight.

Aside from the romance, passion, and the never-ending question of what will happen in Max and Charlotte's relationship, the underlying mystery and drama of the book makes for a fantastic read. The story is complex, holding multiple layers of depth, without being overly so. It is very easy to follow, but not so simple that your mind gets lazy and sleepy. Max and Charlotte both have questions from their past and it seems that the answers converge. Is there more to the story than either of them know? Ms. Gideon leads us through the book, easily hooking us with dynamic characters and her development of the plot. She throws questions at us, gives us a few answers and then tosses more questions our way. There really isn't a single moment in MASKED BY MOONLIGHT that leaves the reader feeling bored and ready to jump ahead.

I recommend this to any Paranormal and Romance fans out there. The passion in MASKED BY MOONLIGHT is intense and beautifully written, while the paranormal aspect of it gives it that feeling of "other" that readers find so compelling nowadays. Ms. Gideon appears to have a great series in the works here and there's no telling what she has up her sleeve for us next.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Fox mask

'Walks in and looks in a mirror.'

Male bathroom

Boys bathroom.

WolfMask

Puts his cigerete in a toilet and flushes then goes back to the ball

Great book

This was a great book couldn't put it down. Enjoyed the characters and the rest of the books were wonderful as well. I really hope she comes out with a 4th book!!! This book is one of my favorites and I am very picky about the books.

Great start to a new series!

If you like Cat/Bones you will love this series!!

Bridget's Review

This book was pretty hot. I stared at the cover forever! I enjoyed Nancy's approach on romance and her wording was superb. Most of all I liked the chemistry between the main characters.

A fun & unusual (paranormal) romance - a great beach read!

I must admit a fondness for stories of revenge and redemption. Masked by Moonlight gives us a strong woman detective in "Cee Cee" Caissie - she's bi-racial, gorgeous, tough, and sexy. Cee Cee's enjoys her wearing the white hat - she's always had a strong sense of justice and enjoys the firepower to back up her beliefs. When an unguarded moment leads her to danger, she welcomes the help of the gorgeous and deadly Max Savoie.

Max Savoie is a big unknown. Though he serves as the muscle behind the largest crime boss in the area, there are no records of Max's past. Everything points to a difficult childhood and a struggle to get where he is today. When it becomes clear that Max and his family were always part of the undocumented class, Cee Cee develops some sympathy for Max's position.

The attraction and unconventional courtship between Max and Cee Cee is a strong subplot in the novel. The greater mystery of Max and Cee Cee's shared past moves the action forward and gives Masked by Moonlight a captivating storyline. As I learned more about Max's unique problem and his struggle towards normal, I found myself on Max's side and thoroughly enjoying the mafia aspects and intrigues of the novel.

If you're looking for a fun, romantic thriller with some unconventional (read: paranormal) twists, I recommend Masked by Moonlight. I can't wait to read what happens in the subsequent novels -- I certainly want to know what happens next with Max Savoie and Cee Cee Caissie.

ISBN-10: 1439149631 - Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket (May 25, 2010), 375 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

A Surprising Book

I will admit that when I agreed to review this book, I thought it would be a light and sometimes sexy type of book. While I was correct on the second part of that assumption, I would exactly call this very light. That is a good thing. In fact, this book was written in a way that kept my interest and I even thought would be good for men to enjoy. Unfortunately, I don't think you'd get a guy past the cover, but if you did, I think he would be pleasantly surprised in how fun this book is to read.

Max is a part of the head mob in NOLA. In fact, he is the reason his mob boss is number one. Detective Caissie is a beautiful creole woman who's life is been police work. These two on opposite sides find that they both have one fear in common. A true connection with someone. Both had been through horrible things and both find it hard to trust others even though they have true loyalty to the jobs they hold. So, in a way this seems like the perfect set up to a typical romantic novel, however, things are anything but typical. Max's connection and involvement in the mob becomes the central theme in which the book revolves. It actually becomes so compelling that I think that even men could enjoy this book. You get to not only see inside the heads of Max and Charlotte, but in the mob bosses' head as well. So, there is a bit of everything. Romance, paranormal, sex, mystery, murder, and love.

I give this book 4 stars. It lost it's star due to the ending. All I will say is that Charlotte had good questions left in her head, but pushed it aside too easily. In fact, I think this book would have been better without this kind of "closure". Especially because this is book one in a series and it would have been better to have seen this part left open. So, despite the ending, I did feel this was a pretty good book.

Mixed thoughts...

As soon as I heard there was a werewolf book set in New Orleans I knew I had to read it! I had such high hopes for this book and to be honest, it left me feeling frustrated.

Charlotte (CeeCee) Caissie is a New Orleans detective - tough and sexy. Max Savoie is enforcer to the most powerful mobster in New Orleans. Through a series of murders, they are thrown together and can't fight their attraction to each other. They both know it will never work, but they can't seem to stay away from each other...

The premise of the story was good - A good cop in love with a mobster; I just couldn't "buy" it. The characters were inconsistent. CeeCee is supposed to be a tough ball-breaking cop, yet she cries several times through the book and I felt like her interactions with Max were hot and cold with no in-between. Max is at times portrayed as brilliant yet in the next scene he seems childlike and dull-witted. It felt like the characters were written to fit the storyline, if that makes any sense. Their relationship kind of followed the same pattern -they'd get together and say they loved each other, then jerk away and hurt each other while hiding behind their cop/mobster roles. I had a hard time liking CeeCee, even with her painful past. She was just not very likeable. Strangely enough, I liked Max when he was with CeeCee, but not when he wasn't.

I also thought the murder storyline was weak and sort of pushed aside for most of the book and brought back at the end to tie things up.

I do plan to read the 2nd book in the series, Chased by Moonlight, before I give the series a "yea" or "nay". I'm giving Masked by Moonlight 2.5/5 stars.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Masked By Moonlight

On the seedy side of New Orleans two men are brutally murdered. After examining the crime scene, Detective Charlotte "Cee Cee" Caissie's question is not who, but what killed gambler T-Bob and his shady friend. The victims' bodies were mutilated as if they had been attacked by a vicious animal. The investigation leads her to mob boss Jimmy Legere, a man she blames for kidnapping her as a teenager and murdering her father. But to get to Legere, Cee Cee must go through Max Savoie first. Max is second-in-command with a fierce reputation. Raised by the crime boss since his mother's death when he was a child, Max is Legere's most prized possession because of his secret gift, the ability to shift from man to beast. Legere uses that ability to make Max a deadly predator to protect his business interests and strike fear into his enemies.

As a smart, seasoned police woman, Cee Cee knows she should be wary of Max and his ties to Jimmy Legere, but she cannot help but be intrigued by him. When he saves her life during a vicious attack, Cee Cee realizes he was the same hero who rescued her from the brutal kidnappers years before. She falls in love with him despite learning about his true nature lurking just beneath the surface. As she delves further into the murder investigation and evidence mounts against him, she is forced to choose between her duty as a cop and her love for Max.

This is a fantastic beginning to the Moonlight series. The plot had many twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end. The characters are compelling. Cee Cee and Max are troubled souls on opposite sides of the law. They're haunted by the past and longing to reach out to someone who would understand their pain. I loved Max Savoie. He was different than your typical paranormal romance hero. Sure, he was sexy, protective and strong, but he also seemed vulnerable with little identity and very few personal possessions of his own. His entire existance was controlled by Jimmy Legere until Cee Cee came into his life. A passionate physical relationship came easily between them, but learning to trust one another was far more complicated. I'd also like to say that I thought Max's shifting ability was unique, but I will let you discover the details on your own. This dark, suspenseful tale should not be missed!

A complex romantic police procedural working an urban fantasy beat

Veteran NOPD Police Detective Charlotte "Cee Cee" Caissie works the homicide beat. Her current case involves a horrific mutilation murder that she ties to crime boss Jimmy Legere, whom she detests and hopes to destroy because she believes he killed her father.

Cee Cee digs deeper and concludes that Legere's monstrous mob enforcer, Max Savoie knows more than he is revealing to her. Max has been attracted to the detective seemingly forever and even saved her from an abduction years ago. She has dreamed about her hero since the incident and he admits to her he is him after he saves her again. As they make love, she knows she may have stepped over the edge of the levees because he is caught the middle of her mutilation investigation while he knows he is torn between love and loyalty.

Masked by Moonlight is a complex romantic police procedural working an urban fantasy beat. The story line is filled with action, but character driven as the seemingly star-crossed lovers cross their respective barrier to each other. Nancy Gideon provides a taut paranormal thriller that sub-genre fans will relish and look forward to more investigations starring Cee Cee with Max the "Monster" figuratively having her back and literally her mind and body.

Harriet Klausner

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